Saiou no Hana
BL
|
Historical
|
Drama
|
BL | Historical | Drama |
Everything within him lashed out at it. Shion pushed him away, prompting a startled look.
"If you want nothing of me, my lord," he muttered, "do not touch me."
Toshiwara gave him a slight nod, staring down at the ground before them in silence, a silence which continued until they'd reached the tavern. Shion didn't pay much attention to what the youth was doing. He supposed he was making arrangements to house him for the night.
One night. After that-
Perhaps he'd run back to the mountains, as he should have done from the beginning. Alone.
"Come, Shion."
Toshiwara led him away, careful to keep his distance. Considering the youth's injury, it seemed likely Lord Yuma would dismiss him from service, and after that-
"Tell me what you know."
Shion held his eyes for a moment. Sensations flooded through him until he found himself nearly lost.
No. Not this. Not now.
He shook his head, attempting to clear the vague, insistent memories away.
"That man, Amasu, told me that Lord Hatori had sent the bandits here, supplied them with weapons, and paid them to capture Kagamine."
Toshi crossed his arms over his chest, regarding him with a furrowed brow.
"Do you think he was lying, my lord?"
"It will be far more fortunate for you to believe that." The young man paused, turning away. "Do not breathe a word of this to anyone. Not even to Kagamine, should you ever chance to see him again."
"I do not expect to, Lord Toshiwara."
This stabbing pain- was it his back, or- his heart?
Morning had come. Shion somehow managed to roll himself over. It soon became very clear that he wasn't going anywhere. His fingertips searched out the source. When he'd found it, Shion took a sharp breath.
His ribs- three of them- they were-
Wincing, he hauled himself onto his feet, groping along the wall as he stumbled along towards the screen.
"Hanged himself," he heard a voice say from below. "Last night, in the stables."
His feet stopped moving.
"Apparently Lord Yuma had intended to send him back home."
Toshi- had-?
"Then he might as well have been dead, anyway."
"Little coward did not even use his sword."
An empty rope. Pale eyes staring out at him, and then-
Another memory. Another life.
*What I sought for so desperately was within my reach all along. Everything I wished for, I had already found in you. Forgive me for not realizing it, Shion. I have always been- so stubborn-*
"Toshi," he whispered.
Suddenly his feet refused to budge. Shion collapsed onto the floor.
"You absolutely have to drive that man away. At this rate, we're going to be ruined."
"The apothecary's boy would never harm a soul. You know it as well as I do."
Blood dripped down over Shion's eyelid, bringing him back to the present long enough to see the woman's scornful look. Scorn, touched with frustration and fear. He knew that expression all too well.
"Rei died after taking his medicine," she answered sullenly.
A cloth was wiping at his forehead. The man who held it sighed. "Rei was already very ill, my love."
Shion glanced around at the empty tables. The woman was right. Everyone had fled from his presence, everyone but this kind man to whom he owed a debt he could never repay and whose business was failing because of him.
"Look at him. He's gone entirely mad. How long will it be before he turns against you, or me, or the children?"
"Only the pain," Shion rasped, "makes the memories go away."
The man gave him a pitying look.
"Sake won't cure a broken heart," the man murmured quietly.
"Then he should just kill himself, and be done with it."
Toshi. Toshi- had-
Shion started crying. The man gave his wife a harsh look.
"Would you speak that way to your own son?"
"He's not my son," the woman scoffed, "nor yours, nor anyone's else's."
The man's hand suddenly left him, and all sense of reality went with it. "That's enough," he snapped.
Shion's father, and Kamui; Kagamine, even Toshi; everyone who'd been kind to him, everyone he'd ever loved- they'd all-
*Poison-flower*, a voice beckoned softly.
Shion stared down at his crimson-streaked fingers. The man who stood before him, arguing with his wife, had touched him now as well. Shion's poison had seeped into him. If it continued-
That kind man would lose everything.
He refused to hurt anyone else. He'd go into the mountains at first light. Perhaps starvation would claim him before he froze to death, or perhaps some wild beast would grant him the mercy his own kind would not. A boar, perhaps. To be eaten by the beast Toshi would've served to him, had he lived-
There was something poetic about it. Smiling, Shion closed his eyes.
Soon he'd be walking shoulder to shoulder with Kamui, among the falling stars.
⚘ THE END ⚘